Weakened line-up battle to victory
Star of show Riss just misses maximum score
The Edinburgh Parsons Peebles Monarchs were made to fight all the way before securing a 54- 39 home victory against a stubborn Berwick Bandits on Friday night.
The victory saw the hosts consolidate their place at the top of the SGB Championship table but made something of a mockery of the Bandits’ poor form this campaign in which they have won just three games.
The hosts had to ride without captain Sam Masters and Ricky Wells who were both in Speedway World Cup action.
However, guests Justin Sedgmen and Rory Schlein contributed healthy figures to the victory as the pair combined to collect a total of 17 points.
Erik Riss was the star of the show again but frustratingly missed out on a maximum in heat 15 for the second home match running while Dutch ace Theo Pijper was also in solid form.
The opening heat was an interesting tussle with Pijper gating before Schlein moved ahead with the pair seeing off a strong challenge from Aaron Summers to open the evening with a 5-1.
Further 4-2 advantage is heats four and six gave the hosts a decent cushion at 22-14.
Four consecutive tied heats kept the meeting intriguing for the fans but Berwick’s failure to make the most of their tactical ride in heat 12 cost them any chance of inflicting a first home defeat of the season on the Monarchs.
Victory was clinched in the next heat when Riss stormed to his fourth victory of the night while Schlein passed Kevin Doolan for third as Edinburgh opened the gap to an unassailable 10 points.
Max Clegg and Josh Pickering then teamed up for a 5- 1 in the penultimate heat as Riss geared up for his bid for a maximum in heat 15.
However, having failed in his bid last week it was a case of history repeating itself as the German ace had to settle for second spot after being forced to start 15 metres back of the field.
It certainly made for a better race as he came storming up, rounded David Howe and moved into second spot.
He started eating up the ground to race leader Doolan but just ran out of time as that elusive maximum will have to wait for another week.
Results elsewhere mean the Monarchs are now tied for top spot in the table with the Ipswich Witches, but the Armadale Stadium side have two meetings in hand.